Recent Patents on Nanotechnology - Volume 12, Issue 2, 2018

Background: Ultrasound (US) has the ever-rising role in the delivery of therapeutic agents that includes chemotherapeutic agents, proteins, and genetic material. The microbubbles are the cavitating gas bodies that act as the mediators through which the energy of relatively non-interactive pressure waves is accumulated to produce forces that can permeabilize cell membranes and disrupt the vesicles that carry the therapeutic agent. This shows that the microbubbles greatly enhance the delivery of smaller chemical agents, proteins and genetic material. Method: Various databases of online literature and patented reports based on sonication were reviewed. Results and Conclusion: The literature reveals that US-assisted drug delivery is used in the delivery of therapeutic agents into various tissues including vascular, cardiac, tumor, skeletal muscle and fetal tissue. US-assisted delivery of proteins has been studied in the application in transdermal delivery of insulin, hormones and small proteins. Cavitation effect occurring during the sonication reversibly disrupts the stratum corneum structure to allow the transport of the large molecules. Cavitation disrupts the structure of the carrier vesicle and releases the drug. But there still remains a need for better understanding the physics of cavitation of microbubbles and the impact of cavitation on drug-carrying vesicles and cells. Ultrasonic technology has been proven effective at creating encapsulating particles and droplets with specific physical and functional properties. This article provides an overview of the factors influencing ultrasonication and various nanosystems formulated by using this technology.

Background: Brazil is the fourth largest personal hygiene, perfumery and cosmetics (HPPC) consumer market in the world, leading industries to invest heavily in cosmetic research. Nanotechnology is studied and applied in several branches of health and, in the cosmetic area, focuses on the effectiveness of the products, safety of use and stability of the formulation. Thus, nanoemulsions appear as an attractive option for cosmetic manufacturers. Objective: In this context, a technological investigation was carried out, through a patent search, with the objective of verifying the current panorama of the nanoemulsions for the development of cosmetic formulations. Method: To do this, we consulted the Espacenet® database, using the word "nanoemulsion", associated with the IPC code "A61q19". A total of 188 patents were found, of which 118 were available for display, whose data were organized into charts for discussion. Result: The results show that developed countries are still the largest patent holders in the area, with the exception of South Korea, which ranked first with 39 patent applications. France appears as the most important in this research, but the largest market of interest for this technology is North America. Brazil seems to have less number of patents (3) and have not been registered in the country. Conclusion: The predominance of cosmetic nanoemulsions was mainly for aesthetic purposes. Nanoemulsions for cosmetic application still have potential for research and development, especially when related to raw materials of plant origin, where Brazil can be highlighted.

Background: Carcinoma of the prostate gland (PCa) is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancer diseases among men around the world. PCa has become the major considerable health and epidemic problem which causes death in men with a high prevalence and relatively lower mortality risk. The inability of conventional diagnosis tools to detect cancer at an early and potentially curable stage further hinders effective treatment options and spur demand for improved technologies. Nanoparticles are emerging as a versatile tool for disease diagnosis to therapy. Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have a huge potential in targeted drug delivery and detection of cancerous cells. Diverse predominant distinctive properties of gold nanomaterials and their effective functionalization make them a suitable material for early diagnosis and effective treatment of cancer. Objective: To summarize the recent research and patents on the development of multifunctional AuNPs based nanoformulations for early diagnosis and targeted drug delivery to prostate cancer. Further, discussion on the salient features of gold nanostructures and its evaluation of extremely attractive vectors in prostate cancer diagnosis and treatments. Conclusion: This review summarizes the use of AuNPs based nanoformulations in cancer diagnostics and therapy, which has been recognized as an important platform as smart materials for clinical application. The ability to tune the size, shape and the physical properties of AuNPs along with their low toxicity, biocompatibility and large surface chemistry makes them as a promising candidate for clinical use.

Background: Recent advances in nanotechnology make it possible to create nanomaterials with novel microstructure and unique physicochemical properties. Different structures of nanoparticles of immiscible elements can be synthesized using chemical, mechanochemical or physical methods. The present review is devoted to contemporary state of the studies on the methods to produce bimetallic nanoparticles formed of immiscible metals. Methods: We undertook a structured search of bibliographic databases for peer-reviewed research literature using a focused review question and inclusion/exclusion criteria. The quality of retrieved papers was appraised using standard tools. Results: Ninety-six papers were included in the review. Taking into account a large number of works in this field of the studies in the present review we are going to consider general methods of producing BMINPs with diverse structures: core-shell (twenty one papers), nanoalloys (twenty papers), Januslike (sixteen papers). The field of BMINPs application was described in seventeen articles. In the part Current & Future Developments the perspectives on the usage of bulk materials produced by BMINPs consolidation are discussed. Conclusion: As can be seen from this review, ideal bimetallic nanoparticles synthesis methods are not developed by now. The existence of different routes to nanoparticles synthesis and their unique properties confirm the importance promoted awareness of potential benefits of nanoparticles in different applications. The reviewed patents emphasized the importance of bimetallic nanoparticles and their application in various fields as well.

Background: Cocrystals of active pharmaceutical ingredient has been of interest in the field of pharmaceutical research due to their potential for tailoring the physicochemical properties of pharmaceutical molecules. The increase in number of cocrystals screening experiments being reported and simultaneously the draft guidelines issued from regulatory bodies on pharmaceutical cocrystals provide the evidence of the acceptance of cocrystals in the drug development. This review presents the numerous patents addressing the key properties of an active pharmaceutical ingredient namely solubility and stability towards varied environmental conditions, being modified using suitable coformer and appropriate cocrystallization technique. Methods: A literature review was conducted to summarize the reported articles as well as patents that have been published and/or granted for work related to cocrystallization of an active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). Efforts have been made to include examples for various types of objectives undertaken by the researchers to cocrystallize an API. Results: The summary of the various cocrystallization techniques reported in peer reviewed journals shows that a majority of the articles till date prefer and explore the slow solvent crystallization technique compared to solid-state mediated processes. Amongst all the patents summarized in the review article, 37 patents have been published along with the improvement in physicochemical properties of the API whereas 35 patents have been reported only for the process of preparation of the API. Conclusion: The contents of the review very well highlight the ever increasing scope for the cocrystallization technique of an API, the varied methodologies applied for cocrystallization and the properties that can be improved by cocrystallization.

Background: Cancer is a major problem which has claimed so many lives throughout the world. Although a number of resources have been utilized for the development of cancer therapeutics, no effective cure has been found so far. Objective: Therefore, the need for looking at evolving technologies has become very important to get a solution to this problem. Among these, nanotechnology has got so much popularity and became feasible in the past few years. Nanotechnology is presently used as the most preferable drug delivery platform for cancer therapy. Method: A variety of nanomaterials based on lipid, polymer, metal or magnet have been developed for enhancement of the efficiency of current treatment. Results: Recently, polymeric-nanoparticles have been exploited as a carrier of many drug substances for invasive and non-invasive routes of delivery. Conclusion: In this manuscript, the authors have reviewed different aspects of nanoparticles, recent patents and research issues related to cancer.